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Sorry for the day off yesterday Mobsters, and thank you to Xavier for inviting me to commit some golf at Kenwood. I should never have been allowed on the grounds.

I go through a phase every summer during which the clubs might as well be rebar. I'm in one now. Thanks to my partners Rich, Brad and Mike, for putting up with me. I'm back to doing what (some people say) I know how to do, which is damaging this here keyboard.

THE CLUB IS DEAD. I wrote the obit last Wednesday, when it left for Colorado. It got worse after that. Now at 9 behind the Brewers and 5 out of the wild card with four teams to pass, it's getting kinda dark.

How dark, Johnny?

Dark enough that maybe they could consider dangling a Latos or a Leake between now and the end of the month. Is there a legit contender in need of a very good arm? What price might the Reds command?

This very likely won't happen. But there's no reason not to consider it. The minor league cupboard is thin, there still is no everyday LF, they still owe R. Ludwick $4.5 mil next year, if they want him to go away, and Broxton $9 mil to pitch the 8th inning, etc. etc. etc.

The latest Cuban signee could be good enough to fill a rotation spot, no? Unless they decide to pay him all this money and make him a reliever. That's been known to happen here.

What's wrong with this Club isn't just injuries, though lots would like to make it seem that way. What's wrong is the structure of the roster, some stupid contracts and the need for a big bat that wasn't filled last winter.

MY MAN MO made an interesting observation yesterday. He said the Reds have done nothing to substantially improve since the acquisition of Choo, more than 500 days ago. That's essentially true.

Other Central teams have… Looie added Peralta and Bourjos in the offseason, even as it knew Oscar Taveras was in the wings. Masterson and Lackey arrived before the deadline.

The Brewers got Mark Reynolds, who has 21 HRs, and Matt Garza, who has 7 wins and 21 starts (and is currently on the DL). They beefed up their bullpen, with Will Smith and Zach Duke, who was briefly a Red in 2013.

Even MPWS did something, spending $5 mil on Edinson Volquez. His 10 Ws lead them. Plus, they knew they had G. Polanco ready for a June call-up.

The Reds?

A few useful parts: Schumaker and Brayan Pena. No help from the bus riders, beyond Kristopher Negron and Jumbo Diaz. Nice complements, but not players who will get you to October.

If you are standing still, you are falling behind.

Walt Jocketty made improving the pitching a priority, and he certainly has done that. Drafting Leake, trading for Latos, securing Bailey, finding Chapman, picking Simon off the heap. All good stuff. But only a blind man couldn't see the Reds needed a big bat last winter, and even right up to the all-star break, when they were 1.5 out.

And now, it doesn't matter, unless they're selling with an eye toward next year. The irony? Jocketty/Castellini's inability to find a bat has them wasting the very pitching they've spent such time and expense acquiring.

"Nobody wants to hear this: But our guys play hard," he said. "Nobody wants to hear that when you're three games under .500 and fading in the division, but I'll tell you they fight every day. Considering how we lost those games (Sunday), getting in late, they came out early to ballpark and played their tails off. And we lost in extra innings in a tough way.

"It stinks to lose, but I'm proud of our guys."

You're right. Nobody wants to hear it. The death knell for any team, in any sport, is when its participants start praising their own effort. Winners don't do this. Effort is implied in the contract. During the Bengals Lost Decade, such self-praise usually commenced shortly after midseason, when the Men were, say, 3-8 or so.

Cries of "nobody's giving up'' filled the postgame locker room.

Yeah? So?

BECAUSE TURNABOUT IS FAIR PLAY. . . I will allow that Bengal Boy might or might not have absolutely thrashed me last week on the golf course. It's possible he edged me by five or six shots for nine holes.

Since I routinely mention my numerous and frequent triumphs over him – did I tell you my record v. BB this summer is SEVEN-ONE-AND-ONE? – I feel it only right that I say he has now defeated me one time in nine tries.

MR. GREEN JEANS IS PLEASED… Tomatoes bursting from every vine this year. Not sure why. They usually love the hot, humid crud we call summer. Hasn't been that way in 2014, but they're growing like Barry Bonds' head. I've given away far, far more than we've eaten. The cherry guys are divine.

Fall lettuce soon.

HAVE YOU DONE THE ICE BUCKET THING? Jillian The Magnificent is doing it today at NKU, with the basketball coaches. She plans to challenge me, and personally drench me. So glad I have such a thoughtful daughter.

LAST SELF-SERVING ENTRY BEFORE I RETURN TO SPORTS… We spent the weekend at The Homeplace out East. Maybe you have a place you see as restorative. I hope so. The cabin is mine. Magical night on the back deck, listening to Lap lose his mind maybe 2 minutes into the game v. the Jets.

SPEAKING OF THE MEN. . .Bodine is the center. You good with that? I bet the Ravens are pleased. A veteran D with big pass-rushing bona fides could mess with a rookie's head.

Manziel flipped the bird toward the Redskins after the play that unfolded in front of Washington's bench.

Manziel said he had "words exchanged" with the Redskins and that he should have been smarter.

GRANTLAND'S B. BARNWELL EXAMINES SPEED IN THE NFL and concludes it's sort of important. None of the top six-fastest teams in the loop made the playoffs last year. The Men are ranked 11th.

POTENTIALLY HUGE BLOW IN C-BUS… Braxton Miller hurts his shoulder making a throw in practice. From sportsonearth:

What it also does is greatly diminish any expectation that Ohio State will make the inaugural College Football Playoff, while also making Michigan State a clearer favorite win the Big Ten East and repeat as Big Ten champions, potentially taking aim at a playoff bid if it can upset Oregon in a few weeks.

What's most unsettling, though, is the future for Miller, who returned for his senior season to take aim at a national title and finish what could end up being a somewhat underappreciated career. He's a multi-talented quarterback with over 3,000 career rushing yards and 5,000 passing yards, having been thrown into the post-Tressel fire in 2011 before getting matched with Meyer and leading the Buckeyes to an undefeated but unrecognized 2012 season in which sanctions prevented them from competing for championships.

A WORD OR 200 FROM OUR BEER-ESPONDENT, Tristen:

Beer: Reading + Thinking + Drinking

You know, writing 200ish words a week about beer is really hard. I have to spend my precious time in bars, drinking beer, when I could be doing nothing better with my time a thousand other productive things. I make these sacrifices for YOU. To that end, I'm introducing a narrative structure for those weeks when I don't really have much of a narrative to build my beer ramblings around.

'TWAS ANOTHER TERRIFIC WEEK IN MASONand the hope always is we never lose the gem that is the Western & Southern Open. I only wish tennis were as popular as the Reds or Bengals. If it were, I'd be up there all week.

I mean, we just watched arguably the two best players in the world win titles, right up I-71. Serena is the best female; even at age 33, Federer is in the photo with Nadal and Djokovic.

What most impresses, at least outside the 124 mph Chappy-esque serves of Williams, is the way the Eastern Euros in particular are so adept at speaking English. I say this every year, but I'm amazed at the likes of Ana Ivanovic, a Serb, and how easily and well she speaks the language.

TUNE O' THE DAY. Might have played this one before, but you know, I like it. Never liked this band, though; just this tune.